Zhao Chen looked at the dancing brows and shining eyes of his eldest sister, and guessed at once what small abacus she was clicking in her heart.
"I have some matters to see to on my end; let us dine together next time." Zhao Chen found his excuse and made ready to slip away.
Zhao Ruyue's hand slid off without catching him, and in the space of a breath Zhao Chen had run to the door of the great hall.
"This boy!" Zhao Ruyue stamped her foot in vexation, and called back to Qin Xiaolei, seated upon the throne behind her, "Princess, wait here a moment; I shall go and haul this boy back at once."
And with that Zhao Ruyue gave chase.
Leaving Qin Xiaolei alone in that empty great hall.
Qin Xiaolei's heart eased at once, and thereupon she drew both legs up on the throne and buried her head between her knees.
Thinking back on the scene just past, she felt gooseflesh rise all over her.
But thinking of this man Zhao Chen, some place in Qin Xiaolei's heart seemed to be touched again.
Among girls of Qin Xiaolei's age there is not one whose thoughts do not turn to spring.
And with a man of Zhao Chen's quality set before her, would there be any better choice?
There would not!
"In truth… if it were him… perhaps… it would really be quite fine." Qin Xiaolei muttered it in a small voice, and then rocked herself about in her embarrassment.
Beyond the great hall, Zhao Chen had only just let out a breath.
When his eldest sister Zhao Ruyue came after him from behind.
"Zhao Chen, stop right there!"
Seeing her, Zhao Chen hurriedly quickened his step.
"If you dare run, then I shall dare bring the little princess and chase you all the way to your Owl Dragon Star System!" Zhao Ruyue's words made Zhao Chen give up fleeing.
Zhao Chen looked helplessly at Zhao Ruyue as she caught up. "Big Sis, what are you playing at?"
"Hoo, hoo, hoo…" Zhao Ruyue had run herself out of breath; she glared crossly at Zhao Chen. "You foolish boy — have you not understood what your eldest sister means by this? So fine an opportunity set before you, and it does not stir you in the least?"
"Big Sis, did I not say it before? I am in no hurry over personal matters just now." Zhao Chen shrugged.
Zhao Ruyue looked at him doubtfully. "You would not, by any chance… have no interest in women? I wondered about it before: your Owl Dragon Legion is women-soldiers to the last, and yet not one rumor about you has ever gotten out. So that's it… so you take them all for sisters."
Zhao Chen stared. "Please. I am a proper man; my sex is male and my taste is women. That is a thing nailed to the board!"
"Then is Qin Xiaolei not beautiful?"
"She is."
"Is Qin Xiaolei not alluring?"
"She is."
"Would a princess's standing not give you a sense of conquest?"
"It would."
"Then do you not want to take her to bed?"
"I do—"
Zhao Chen had barely said it before he hurriedly changed his words. "Big Sis, wanting is one thing, and truly doing it is another. There are a great many women I might want to take to bed — must I go through every one of them?"
"Whatever other women you want, I do not care; but Qin Xiaolei you must!" Zhao Ruyue set her hands on her hips and said it with the utmost conviction.
"Ahem, ahem… Sister, are you truly my own blood sister? Whose elder sister says such tiger-and-wolf words as these to her own younger brother?" Zhao Chen did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Zhao Ruyue hooked an arm straight around Zhao Chen's neck and said close at his ear, "This is for your own good. Those plans for the future you set out to Qin Xiaolei just now — are they not so the Owl Dragon Legion may control the whole Starlight Empire? Then why go to all that trouble? Control Qin Xiaolei directly, and is that not the same as controlling the whole Starlight Empire? There's a saying, is there not: a man conquers the world to conquer a woman, and a woman conquers a man to conquer the world. Can it not be amended a little in your case? You may conquer the Starlight Empire by conquering Qin Xiaolei."
Zhao Chen rolled his eyes. "Sister, do you take me for that sort of man?"
"You may be that sort of man." Zhao Ruyue offered him an encouraging expression.
Zhao Chen understood now that this elder sister of his would not rest until she had delivered him into Qin Xiaolei's bed.
"Sister, I truly have no such notion at present. And you know as well that I have a marriage contract with Chu Xuan already. And now Marshal Chu Changhe and I stand in alliance; to enter into a relation with Qin Xiaolei at such a time — how am I then to manage the relation with the Chu family?" Zhao Chen made ready to bring out Chu Xuan as his shield.
Zhao Ruyue put on a thinking look. "That is indeed a problem… though… you might simply take them both in and be done with it. Our Zhao family has come to a thin generation in yours; this is exactly your chance to spread the branches and scatter the seed!"
And as she said it, Zhao Ruyue's eyes fairly shone.
Well, then.
This elder sister of mine is sick past curing.
"How old is the little princess now?" A question came to Zhao Chen of a sudden.
"The little princess… I believe she is 17," Zhao Ruyue said.
The corner of Zhao Chen's mouth rose. "There, you see. I have no interest in those who are not grown. Let her come of age first, and we shall speak of it then."
Zhao Ruyue narrowed her eyes at her brother. "Truly? You would not, by any chance, have made up a reason to fob me off?"
"Of course it is true!" Zhao Chen said it plainly.
"Then you may take Chu Xuan in first! Over this stretch, Marshal Chu has raised the matter of a marriage alliance with me no small number of times." Zhao Ruyue looked at Zhao Chen, grinning.
Well, then. This hurdle truly cannot be got round.
It took no small effort before Zhao Chen shook off his eldest sister's pestering at last.
……
Several days later.
Quarterly System mission updated.
The previous quarterly mission has ended; please claim your quarterly mission reward.
Hearing the voice at his ear, Zhao Chen woke with a start.
He looked about him: he had fallen asleep leaning back in the captain's chair on the bridge.
"Commander-in-Chief?" Lilith looked at him curiously from beside him.
Zhao Chen looked at the blanket laid over him. "How long have I slept?"
"Five hours. There is an hour yet before the Northern Goose Group's leadership arrives. And 10 hours before the new Empress's coronation ceremony," Lilith answered.
The date now was the first of July.
Today would be the day the little princess Qin Xiaolei was formally crowned and enthroned upon the Imperial Capital Star; she would become an Empress of the Starlight Empire — and perhaps its youngest.
And upon so important a day there would naturally be figures from a great many quarters attending this imperial coronation, the Northern Goose Group's people among them.
And the Northern Goose Group being an interstellar trade power Zhao Chen had propped up, Zhao Chen had made a point of reminding Lilith to arrange a meeting between the two sides first, once the Northern Goose Group's people arrived.
And before that, Zhao Chen had been resting a while in the captain's chair.
He had not thought he would fall straight asleep.
"Wake me in an hour." Zhao Chen shut his eyes and made a show of going on sleeping.
In truth he had opened the System interface.
For July having come, this year's second quarterly mission was complete.
That's right — what was the second quarterly mission?
Quarterly Mission
Content: Raise Saint Kana's trust value toward the Host.
Trust value reaching 60 counts as a pass; the basic reward may be claimed.
Trust value reaching 70 earns a bronze treasure chest.
Trust value reaching 80 earns a silver treasure chest.
Trust value reaching 90 earns a gold treasure chest.
He had very nearly forgotten this business of Saint Kana.
There was no telling what Saint Kana's trust value had come to; when they parted before it had barely scraped a pass, and afterward, with the business of the Starlight Empire's civil war, Zhao Chen had paid it no great attention.